deagan



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. C. DEAGAN 8v J. CARROLL.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Patented Aug. '6, 1889.

(No Model.)

N4 PETERS. Pmmmhogmpher. wnsmngmn. D4 c.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. C. DEAGAN su J. CARROLL. MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

N0. 408,655. 'Patented Aug. 6, 1889.

X 1455465?" E11/e1? 27115 N. PETERS. Pholllhagmphur. Wnshingion, D. C.

u UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN C. DEAGA AND JOSEPH CARROLL, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI; SAID CARROLLASSIGNOR TO SAID DEACrAN.`

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 408,655, dated August6, 1889.

Application tiled May 7, 1888. Serial No, 273,118. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN C. DEAGAN and JOSEPH CARROLL, of St. Louis,Missouri, have jointly made a new and useful Improvement in MusicalInstruments, which we call Pipelaphones, of which the following is afull, clear, and eXact description.

This improvement relates to that class of musical instruments in whichthe sounds are produced bystrikin g on tubular metallic bars.

The said invention consists in the con struction and combination ofparts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

Figure 1 is a view in perspective of the improved instrument upon asuitable support, the instrument-case being opened; Fig. 2, a view ofthe case closed; Fig. 3, a vertical crosssection of the instrument andcase closed. Fig. 4, a similar section showing the case opened and thelower set of tubes and supporting-frame drawn out; Fig. 5, an endelevation showing several of the tubes and their support, and Fig. G aside elevation of the hammer used upon the tubes.

The views are upon various scales. r1he same letters ot' referencedenote the same parts.

The improved instrument, generally considered, is composed of two setsof tubesone A of the sets being the scale of the tonic, and the other Bbeing the complement which, with the set A, forms the chromatic scale.The set A can be used separately from the set B. The tubes incrosssection are preferably round, although we desire not to berestricted to a round tube. Apolygonal tube, a square tube, ora attenedtube might be used; but the sound therefrom is not nearly as musical asfrom a perfectly round tube. The size and weight of the tube may also besomewhat varied; but we have ascertained that the best results areobtained from a tube one inch in diameter externally and of the weightknown as sixteen (that is, metal one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness)and of brass or brassy metal. The harder brass is better for the highernotes. Other metalsgold, silver, copper, or steel-can be used. Adiameter of one inch gives a pure harmonic tone, and from a tube oflarger diameter, but of the same length and weight, the tone is a hammerof sott wood, the note A E high concert pitch, which is generally usedin bands and orchestras and the better class of pianos. The lowest notewhich we have adopted tor practical use is the note C, it being a sixthof an octave, or nine semitones,

lower than the above-mentioned note A, and

27:12- a tube ot the to produce this note C weight and diameter abovementioned and about eighteen inches long is used.

rIhe instrument complete consists, usually, of thirty-eight such tubes,so far as diameter and weight are concerned, but graduated in respect tolength from the low-C tube of twelve inches length up to the high-Ctube, which is about six inches in length, and the intermediate tubesbeing, successively, from one-third to one-'fourth ot an inch shorterthan the next lower on e, which makes achromatic scale of three octaves.The best ascertained method of tuning the tubes is to employ apitch-pipe or graduated tuning-fork to tune by, and to cut each tubeone-eighth of an inch longer than the tube is to be when finished, andthen sharpen by filing oft the end of the tube until the desired pitchis obtained, and so on until all thetubes are properly adjusted as tolength and pitch. For example, the low-A tube, which when iinished isabout thirteen and one half inches lon g, should be cut about thirteenand tive-eighths inches long and sharpened by filing and until thedesired pitch is obtained, and if that pitch is not reached by the timethe tube is shortened to the thirteen and one-half inches length theshortening must continue until the pitch is obtained. If the tubes areto be plated, they should be tuned after plating.

` The term pipelaphone is applied to this IOO instrument as beingsuitable therefor. A pipelaphone of thirty-three tubes, chromatic scale,is the one which is most in demand. lt consists of the same tubes as theabove, ex; cept the live lowest notes. A two-octave (twenty-fivesemitones) instrument can be used; also one in the scale of the tonie,(nat nral scale,) consisting of from thirteen to twenty whole notesmounted on a single frame. The support of the tubes is a matter ofimportance. Il the tubes could be placed without any support, it wouldprobably be the 1 best procedure in the case of long tones. For

short tones, similar to Xylophone tones, or for quick musical passages,something answerin g as a damper is needed. For practical use, supportssuch as the frames (l D are used i'or the sets A B, respectively. Theseframes in top View approximate a tria-ngle in form, and the tubes arelaid crosswise thereon,aml so that the tubes each project equally fromeach side of the `fraine-tliat is, the center ol' the tube is over thecentral longitudinal. .line ol' the frame, and the ends c c of the tubeE project, respectively, similarly from the side bars c c ot the frameC, and the tubes in the set l are similarly placed uponv the .trame D.The tubes are suitably separated Vfrom each other, as by means of thepins a, Fig. 5,whieh, as well as that part of the trame with which thetubes come in contact, are cushioned, as by means of felt a. The tubescan be slipped endwise upon their support, and when adjusted to bringthem more to one side ot' the support the tones are shortened, and byarrangingl them so that an end ol' the tube is substantially over a sidebar c of the support a short Xylophone tone can be obtained trom thetubes.

I `orconYenienee, thefraines C l), with their respective sets of tubes,are contained in case l?, Figs. l, IS, and t, which may be constructedand may be made to open in any suitable man ner-as, for instance, byraising the cover j" and turning down the trontf', as shown-and thelower frame and set-u p tubes may be adapted to be inclosed in the casebeneath the upper frame and set oli' tubes, and when needed for use tobe drawn out, as iinlieated in Figs. 1 and ft.

G represents a style ol' hammer well adapted for our pipclaphone. It isusually made ot' wood, harder wood--sueh as ebonyml'orbands andorchestras, and softer \\ood-sueh as basswood-lor parlor use.

lVe are aware that metal tubes have here- Witnesses:

(E. l). Bloom', l?. lil. (ff. (man.

